The major purpose of the proposed three-year project is to evaluate the effectiveness of an innovative health education program, as presented by school nurses to elementary school children. The program, entitled Project Health P.A.C.T. (Participatory and Assertive Consumer Training, consists of a series of age-appropriate written and audio-visual materials, as well as materials for health providers. It is taught, initially, via structured classroom presentations over an 18-week period (one hour per week); teaching and practice continues on an individualized basis whenever the child visits the school nurse's clinic. Five behaviors, that comprise the "participatory and assertive health consumer role," are taught throughout the program: asking questions; communicating information about oneself to the health professional; encouraging the health professional to provide health instruction; participating in decision-making regarding one's health; and clarifying one's own responsibilities for maintaining health on a daily basis. The overall research question to be addressed is, "To what extent does Project Health P.A.C.T. positively influence children's knowledge about health and the health-consumer roles, attitudes toward health-care providers, health locus of control, and health-related habits and behaviors?" During Phase 1 (Year I), the measures needed for the study will be developed, tested empirically, and revised. (A dearth of well-developed, reliable and valid measures, especially outcome measures, pertinent to the study's objectives, necessitates this phase). During Phase 2 (Years II and III), an experimental study will be conducted in six schools in three different school districts in Colorado, California, and Montana. In each school, children in grades 1, 4 and 6 will be randomly assigned to either the experimental (Project Health P.A.C.T.) group, or the control ("traditional" health education) group. A series of cognitive, affective, and behavioral measurements will be collected over the course of the two academic years (1983-84 and 1984-85) in which the study is conducted. The results of the study will provide new insights into the effectiveness of an innovative approach for school nurses to use in promoting the health of the children they work with.